Mississippi State hires Joe Moorhead as its next football coach

After nine years in Starkville Dan Mullen has taken the head coaching job at Florida, where he once was the offensive coordinator and will be reunited with former Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin.
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The Bulldogs were looking for an up-and-coming and forward-thinking offensive mind with a tireless work ethic after Dan Mullen left Mississippi State on Sunday for Florida.

They found exactly that.

Moorhead, 44, is the guy behind one of the most prolific offenses in the country. Penn State (10-2) scored an average of 41.6 per game this season, the seventh-high total in the nation. Moorhead's offenses at Penn State ranked 21st and 17th, respectively, in yards per play in the last two seasons.

Under Moorhead last season, Penn State set program records for total offense (6,056 yards) and passing yards (3,650) and tied the mark for points scored (526).

Moorhead has quickly earned a reputation as someone who can help rejuvenate and even resurrect things.

Penn State scored 14.4 more points per game in 2016 than it did without Moorhead in 2015.

Moorehead’s only experience as a head coach was at Fordham, his alma mater, where he had a 38-13 record in four seasons and his teams reached the FCS playoffs in each of his last three seasons. He inherited a program at Fordham that went 1-10 in 2012 and then guided it to a winning record in each of the next four seasons.

Before Fordham, Moorhead joined UConn in 2009 as offensive coordinator. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh in 1998 after his quarterback days ended after a tryout in the arena league. He initially worked as a sports writer before getting his coaching career started. He was an assistant and later offensive coordinator at Georgetown from 2000-03 and then was an assistant and later offensive coordinator at Akron from 2004-08.

Moorhead is from Pittsburgh, a blue-collar city — Mississippi State wanted a fit for its own hard-working culture — and coaches from around the country described him to the Clarion Ledger as a tireless worker, innovator and someone who doesn't shy from challenges. The latter was said in the context of comparing Moorhead's results to the expectations of a program like Penn State.

At Mississippi State, Moorhead will inherit Nick Fitzgerald, Aeris Williams and four starting offensive linemen. Moorhead's quarterback at Penn State was Trace McSorley, a dual-threat, like Fitzgerald, just a smaller version in size. McSorley's success is a good sign for Fitzgerald.

Moorhead turned Penn State into a creative, spread offense that utilizes run-pass play options (RPOs). He is known as an aggressive play-caller who is willing to take chances to score points.

Moorhead's resume doesn't include any stops in the SEC and his name likely didn't immediately resonate with Mississippi State fans when he emerged as serious candidate on Monday. But that doesn't matter; for Mississippi State, Moorhead checked all the boxes.

New Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead walks on the field prior to the start of the Blue-White game at Beaver Stadium. The Blue team won 26-0. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports